Musician and actor David Kaff, whose credits include the satirical 1984 rock documentary “This is Spinal Tap,” is dead at 79.
Kaff played the fabricated band’s Spinal Tap’s easygoing keyboard player Viv Savage whose motto in life was “Have a good time all the time.”
His death was announced by his band Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom on Facebook Sunday.
“Our brother David Kaffinetti passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday. We are devastated by this event,” the band posted. “David always had a kind word and a quick wit that would slay you where you stand. Then he’d make you smile doing it! RIP dear brother.”
He appeared to perform under the last name’s Kaff and Kaffinetti at different stages in his career.
While the British performer is best known to American audiences for the small, but memorable role in “This is Spinal Tap,” he performed in several musical groups dating back more than 50 years.
That included six years with the English progressive rock band Rare Bird, which he left in 1975, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. Kaff said in a 2019 interview his Spinal Tap character was a “dimmer” version of himself.
“If people like that character, chances are they’ll like me,” he reckoned.
According to Spinal Tap lore, Savage died while visiting the grave of the band’s former drummer Mick Shrimpton. The mysterious and frequent deaths of Spinal Tap drummers is a running joke throughout the film. Kaff’s current bandmates didn’t give a cause of death for their colleague over the weekend.
Deadline reported in 2022 that the remaining members of Spinal Tap were working on a sequel scheduled for release in September. Keyboardist Elton John is reportedly involved in the film.
